Why Does the Tsaritsa Want the Gnoses (A Detailed Theory)

Dante

Editor-in-Chief at BrandAnime

Dante is Editor-in-Chief (Lord Hokage), which means he runs editorial and operations at BrandAnime. That means this whole thing was his idea, and he spends...

Last Updated on December 8, 2025 by Dante

One of the central storylines in Genshin Impact is the Fatui, a powerful faction from Snezhnaya, attempting to take the Gnoses from the Archons.

No one, not even the Archons, know why the Tsaritsa is doing this.

Now that we’re in the climax of the Nod-Krai arc, let’s revisit the question.

Why does the Tsaritsa want the Gnoses?

I have a theory and it ties into to the very definition of Teyvat.

Table of Contents

So, Why Does the Tsaritsa Want the Gnoses?

Let’s get to the point.

The Tsaritsa wants the Gnoses to revive the First Descender.

Based on what we already know from Teyvat lore, we can understand that the Gnoses are “pieces” of the First Descender. the person who created Teyvat as we know it.

The First Descender apparently did battle with the Second Descender, and the outcome is still murky. But the Second Descender would later have a showdown with the Heavenly Principles and was usurped.

The Heavenly Principles now have dominion over Teyvat.

After the Archon War, the Gnoses were awarded to the champions, the current Archon.

The Gnoses hold fragments of the First Descender’s power, the only entity that predates the Heavenly Principles. If there is anything that can defeat them and likely the Abyss, it’s the First Descender.

So, now we can establish this reason, which honestly is obvious if you’ve been paying attention to the story.

The part that puzzles me is… why?

The Reason Currently Makes No Sense

There are several reasons why the Tsaritsa’s goal doesn’t make sense with what we know so far.

To begin, we only know that the Tsaritsa is the God of Love.

The Cryo Archon was said by Dainsleif to have lost the love of her people. I assume this means she’s incredibly overbearing, much past the extreme of the Raiden Shogun who tried to eliminate anyone with a Vision during the Vision Hunt Decree.

With a little deductive reasoning, we can infer the Cryo Archon must have had some kind of love taken away from her, maybe during the Archon War or the Great Cataclysm.

What was this love?

Whatever it is, it’s her motive for trying to turn the entire world upside down to revive an entity that can take down the Heavenly Principles.

I do not believe it’s because she had no any relationship with the First Descender. I do think he disappeared, but he predates the Tsaritsa by almost a millennium, and on top of that she is the youngest Archon I believe.

So, it stands to reason that her true love was killed during the Archon War and the Great Cataclysm, and her nature caused her a great deal of grief.

But, here is why none of this makes any sense.

Where the Hell Are the Heavenly Principles?

Now, this is absolutely huge!

Seriously, stay with me here.

The Heavenly Principles have been noticeably absent since they attacked the Traveler twins 500 years ago. Asmoday is completely absconced somewhere, and I suspect she is somewhere that even the Heavenly Principles can’t find her…

That’s right.

The Abyss.

That’s just my theory anyway.

But that’s not all.

The Tsaritsa has sent the Fatui everywhere to gather information about basically every system of the world. She has spent 500 years collecting intel on Teyvat and even has a grand mage from Khaenri’ah assisting her.

Now, this is notable since the current Archons don’t seem to know much about the Heavenly Principles. But the Cryo Archon apparently has it on good faith that assembling all the Gnoses can revive the First Descender.

Here are some notable facts that show how dangerous her thinking is:

The Archons don’t give a damn about their Gnosis. Ei didn’t even care for her. Zhongli gave his away. Nahida bargained with hers. Neuvillette gave his away for nothing and did not have to (Arlecchino wasn’t gonna and can’t do shit to him), Mavuika never even parted with hers. Only the Tsaritsa cares about them, and she doesn’t even try to claim them herself.
Who in the world told her the Gnoses combined can resurrect the First Descender? My guess is that it’s the Grand Mage she’s working with who is the strongest Fatui Harbringer. If this is the case, she is obviously being manipulated as that man has beef with the Heavenly Principles even more than she does and could obviously be using her.
Nobody in Teyvat has tried what she has. And everyone has experienced grief from the Archon War. Ei lost her sister. Morax lost countless friends. Nahida lost her other self. Mavuika’s people were literally forced into a little song and dance with death forever. Focalors faced the destruction of her people. What would compel the Cryo Archon to go through these lengths?

This is a lot, and we didn’t even get to the main question.

Why don’t the Heavenly Principles kill her already?

They’ve been missing in action and a lot of illegal shit has already happened.

I think they won’t make an appearance because they can’t right now.

The Tsaritsa knows this, and it’s why she’s been doing all of this out in the open.

So, What Now?

Well, we know the Tsaritsa wants the Gnoses to revive the First Descender, but we still have no idea why.

I speculate we’ll get our answer soon as Dottore has become the main antagonist for now, and if he is simply allowed to harness moon power with no consequences it’ll confirm my theory about the Heavenly Principles being incapacitated.

It’ll also mean that the Tsaritsa’s intel is correct, they’re mortal, and she has good intel that they can be defeated.

But, we’re still going to have to travel to Snezhnaya to figure out her motive for doing all this.

DanteEditor-in-Chief at BrandAnime

Dante is Editor-in-Chief (Lord Hokage), which means he runs editorial and operations at BrandAnime. That means this whole thing was his idea, and he spends his time making stuff work and covering the latest anime and games. When he's not doing 100 things at once, he's usually... watching anime or playing games. His life isn't that interesting, honestly.

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